Hours after the government asked NDTV India to go off air for a day over its Pathankot coverage, the private news channel has issued a statement on Thursday.

NDTV India, the Hindi news channel, is a part of the NDTV group, an Indian television media company, founded by veteran journalist Prannoy Roy and and his wife Radhika in 1988.

The channel, in its statement, has expressed "shock" over the gag. The statement adds that its coverage was "balanced".